Marc Maron has an odd take on PTA during his conversation with Neil Patrick Harris this week. I'm not sure I agree, and don't quite understand why Marc came to this particular conclusion.
[Don't know why this link won't start at 1:19:38--but that's the start of the tangent. Marc asks him about Ricky Jay.]
The PTA segment (begins at 1:20:47):
MM: Have you ever talked to him? Paul Thomas Anderson?
NPH: No. I just read a whole article about him...
MM: He's a very goofy guy.
NPH: Really?
MM: He grew up in the Valley... His dad was a whacky TV host from Cleveland or something...
NPH: That's right...
MM: And his dad and Tim Conway were best friends...
NPH: No way...!
MM: Yeah. Like, I thought he was, like, some Dark Genius... He comes over here, he's just...goofy dude from the Valley. And it's very entertaining to talk to him....
NPH: So, what is a goofy dude like that...
MM: Where does he get that stuff? Why is he so fuckin'... Maybe that's just his public persona--but he's obviously an incredible filmmaker.
NPH: Phantom Thread?!
MM: He's got reall balls with the filmmaking. Like, he's not afraid of what's going to come at him.
I think it's that Marc thought PTA would be very serious and less conversational than he is. PTA's films give off a sense of the literary (especially after The Master and IV, when Marc had him on the podcast) and can be narratively and "intellectually" challenging with a great level of craft, I suppose, so he possibly expected a person with a challenging intellect and wariness about the world.
Not that PTA isn't intelligent or knowledgeable, but he is very relatable, conversational, loves to joke, isn't serious all the time, loves funny movies, etc., so that's what I think Marc means by "goofy" (though goofy is a bit hyperbolic). I wouldn't really describe PTA as goofy myself, but I think it's Marc's way of saying that PTA's a lot more down to earth and funnier than expected.